Pause

Learn to Pause and Pray before Adding to Your Schedule

Learn to Pause and Pray Before Adding to Your Schedule
By Rick Warren

“It is a trap to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider one’s vows”(Proverbs 20:25 NIV).

When you learn to pause and pray before making a decision, you are helping to slow your life down to a more manageable level.

Proverbs 20:25 says, “It is a trap to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider one’s vows” (NIV).

What is God saying? Ponder before promising. Deliberate before deciding. Muse before you choose. Reflect before you select. Consider your commitments prayerfully and carefully before you decide. Pause and pray before deciding. That will slow your life down.

One thing I’ve had to learn the hard way is you can’t just keep adding things to your schedule without eliminating some. Every time you add a new activity to your schedule, you need to take something off.

One of my mentors, Peter Drucker, used to say to me, “Don’t tell me what new thing you’re doing. Tell me what you’ve stopped doing.” The mark of leadership is knowing what to stop and what to cut out. If you’re burning the candle at both ends, you’re not as bright as you think you are. You’re going to burn out!

Do you have a hard time cutting out activities from your schedule? When you’re faced with an opportunity, you need to do three things:

1. Ask, “Is it worth it?” Is it worth your time, energy, effort, reputation, or money?

2. Ask, “What am I going to give up?” Consider the cost.

3. Learn to say “no.” It’s the greatest time saver in life!

We need to learn to take these three steps and take time to pause and pray before adding more to our already full schedules.